Twenty thousand soldiers of the Republic had died. A full division’s worth.

           Captain Aziz’s face was pale as the news began to come in from the government of the newly-created nation, and what made it worse was that this was a preliminary headcount. Of the First to Twelfth Divisions, only four of them were on high alert — the others had been given some time off after the ceasefire declaration.

           The numbers he’d obtained was from the divisions who were on standby. No one had accounted for the soldiers who were having fun in the nearby towns and cities, but from the message, the Captain knew that the casualties from Liamar’s descent had taken an immense toll on the administration. Even though the Republic had taken a census about its population two months ago, processing the death toll was not going to be an easy job.

           Thunderbolt Battalion had taken quite some damage. Granted, the ones who were here were thankfully unharmed, thanks to Marie’s intervention and warning, but the ones who were stationed at the newly-created border that divided the Assembly’s territory and that of the Republic weren’t as lucky. Beta Company's Platoon Four had been wiped out — they were the airborne platoon on patrol when the descent happened — unable to resist the allure of the tantalising sight.

Hans will be devastated if he learnt about their deaths…The lieutenant had overworked himself during the shift-planning and guard rotations, so much so that Colonel Marie had to kick him into bed for a long rest. Unfortunately, although his men here weren’t harmed, the ones back at the Republic were.

           “A penny for your thoughts?” A sweet soprano came from beside the captain, and Aziz turned to look at Colonel Marie.

           He looked at the colosseum underneath him, where people were cleaning up the audience seats, where thousands of people had died. No one really knew how to clean up the aftermath of exploding heads en masse, but it would be political suicide to leave the bodies or brain matter at their current location. It would highlight the inaptitude and callousness of the current regime, the spark for a new rebellion.

           “Just wondering about the death toll,” said Aziz. “I just received word from the Republic. Thunderbolt took heavy losses from that…event. Beta Company's Platoon Four was annihilated — no survivors whatsoever.”

           “I heard,” said the colonel. “We had no records of the gods descending upon Orb, so none of us knew what we should and should not do. It was a costly lesson, to say the least.”

           “We’ve confirmed that Liamar has descended?” asked Aziz.

           “Yes,” replied Marie. “The authorities of Lumari and the Assembly cooperated with the Republic to share their records, and given that everyone had the same image in their mind, it wasn’t too hard to match them to the descriptions in the records. But none had ever mentioned that death would come to those who saw them.”

           “Maybe it’s something else,” said Aziz. “But I cannot believe that the gods would do this.”

           “So did I, until the Second Extermination began,” said Marie. “But we live in a world where nothing needs to make sense. And what seems wrong to us can very well be common sense to another human — let alone a god.”

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           The captain trembled. “You’re telling me that so many died, and we’re unable to understand why? There’s something like common morality, no?”

           “As of late…I’m beginning to feel that such a concept doesn’t exist,” replied the colonel. “Can you really say that when we slaughter others by the thousands, and many of us don’t blink?”

           Aziz breathed in sharply, the speed at which he did so sending a slightly pain up his nerves. “You noticed?”

           “Hard not to, when everyone’s a bloody mess.”

           He flinched at the colonel’s tone, but she didn’t seem to notice.

           “Everyone’s going for the kill,” said Marie. “Everyone’s saying that we don’t need to accommodate the Assembly — we can kill ‘em all, they say. On the Assembly’s side, many people are saying that they kept losing because not enough troops were sent.”

           “Madness all around,” said Captain Aziz. “That’s what you getting at? Everyone’s now bloodthirsty and all?”

           “We’ve been taking hits the entire time, and the opposing side has been dishing it out,” Marie said, a touch of sorrow to her words. “The beastfolk remnants remember the mass slaughters all too well. The humans who’ve joined us remember the tyranny the Assembly’s system inflicted on the commoners.”

           “There’s too much blood lost for us to truly end this conflict. I see what you’re getting at.” Aziz sighed, and looked at the cleaners below them as they piled together fleshy pulp. “Even if we sign a treaty now, and proclaim it throughout the land, there will always be vengeance-seekers aiming for the leaders of the Assembly.”

           He looked behind, at the seemingly-emotionless squad of men patrolling above the Colosseum. “Their sense of kindness, of empathy, has been dulled by the constant battles and the history between us and the Assembly…there’s no pity in their face, no sorrow for the lives lost today.”

           “I fear that you’re right,” said Marie. She shivered, and Aziz had the feeling that she was comparing the non-existent losses the Republic’s delegates had taken and that of Lumari’s. The delegates that the Republic had sent had listened to their instincts, or were indoors to begin with, which meant that no one had died from their side.

           This fact, unfortunately, was not lost on the Assembly and the citizens of Lumari. Many people were whispering that this event was orchestrated by the beastfolk, a sort of foul play that was effectively untraceable. Add on the assassin who had aimed for the Demigod Nox, and people had to wonder.

           Hell, even Aziz was wondering if the assassin he’d seen was sent by the Republic or by the Northern Continent. He still remembered, vividly, the sight of a little assassin killing a Demigod of the Central Circle. If it was the same person…

           He shook his head.

           “There’s a lot of problematic situations swirling around us right now, and most of them aren’t good for us,” said the captain. “Virtually everything that had occurred in the past day or two have been a well-placed poke in the Assembly’s eye.”

           “Agreed.” Marie surveyed the entire city slowly, and said, “Were it not for the fact that I knew that the Republic was approaching this conference with full sincerity, I would have thought that the highest echelons did something. As it is, we’re more confused than anyone else here.”

           “Hard for us to answer questions when we don’t know the answers.”

           “That’s what our delegates have been trying to do,” said Marie. “The people who matter know that this is not our doing, but telling that to the masses isn’t really going to go down well.”

           “Lovely.”

           “Isn’t it?”

           The two sighed.